Howatson+Company and Petbarn launch branded entertainment approach

Petbarn is moving to a branded entertainment approach in its marketing, in the first work from chief creative officer Kate Blythe.

Blythe’s previous roles include CMO at Mecca, Matches Fashion and Net-a-Porter. The work was developed with Howatson+Company.

Blythe said: “Brands that attract loyalty participate in culture, rather than interrupt it. We have a loved brand, and deeply recognisable characters. So we’ve built on that equity by creating the world we all imagine our pets live in.

“By ‘petsonifying’ our brand characters - Petey and Barnadette (derived from Petbarn) – we give voice to longing eyes, playful barks and sleepy cuddles. That’s where the magic is for Petbarn - to play an even more trusted, more present role, in the lives of pet parents.”

Developed alongside Howatson+Company, the launch itself took a very different shape to traditional brand comms, setting the branded entertainment intent.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Petbarn (@petbarn)

Chris Howatson, CEO H+Co, said: “For many years, a brand’s feed is where you scroll to feel  and understand a brand. Yet as marketers we often bias paid channels when seeking customer connection. Like many brands, Petbarn’s feed was a blend of products, offers, and advice.

“So to reset the expectation we deleted the entire feed. But entertainingly, it wasn’t us in the social team, but Petey, the over-enthusiastic, if not a little rash, brand ambassador; ‘Uh oh. I think I might have accidentally deleted Petbarn’s entire Instagram account. Is this bad? I think this might be bad.’

The playful social-first stunt sparked immediate, unprecedented engagement from both existing brand fans and new followers. 

Blythe said: “That first post had over 3,600 likes and organic reach of 6m. It was immediate evidence the strategy would work”. 

It was followed by a series of candid videos, mirror selfies and unscripted character moments, positioning Petey and Barnadette as active creators rather than static mascots.

Bylthe added: “The job then was to build this new universe everywhere. When we’re competing against entertainment, publishing is a daily endeavour with no room for inconsistency. We started internally across social, ecommerce, emails – emails now come from Petey and Barnadette – and stores. Our retail media was reshaped into Petey and Barnadette’s world.”

Howatson said: “The OOH holds some of my favourite executions. If a cat were creating an ad, how would she frame a shot? If a dog was the creative director, would he chew on the billboard before dispatching it?

“Kate has pushed the world at every step of the creative process. I deeply admire her craft of brand storytelling – honed from decades in fashion, an industry when at its best, is unrivaled in brand management”. 

The production approach was critical to enabling the new world. Blythe said: “The Howatson Team brought together the very best of traditional and emerging technologies to ensure there was no compromise between budget and outcome.”

Howatson added: “We built a custom technical pipeline using 3D modeling, 2D animation, VFX, and custom generative AI tools. We’ve resourced it permanently to enable continuous, high-speed asset generation. And importantly, for a similar budget to previous years, we’ve created hundreds of bespoke assets rather than one or two.”

CREDITS

Petbarn
Kate Blythe - Chief Customer Officer
Mark Richardson - General Manager, Retail Marketing
Sumeena Parimu - Head of Retail and Integrated Marketing
Faye Andrews - Retail Marketing Manager
Kate Napier - Creative Director

Howatson+Company
Chris Howatson - Chief Executive Officer
Georgia Pritchard - Executive Strategy Director
Jaime Wright - Group Business Director
Naomi Waters - Business Manager
Kerstin Allin - Senior Business Director
Aoife Lehane - Business Director
Gavin Chimes - Chief Creative Officer
Chris Cheeseman - Group Creative Director
Simon Friedlander - Group Creative Director
Maddy Semit - Senior Creative
William Loveder - Creative
Phoebe Gribble - Creative
Olive Jones-Evans - Creative
Voice of Petey - Daniel Connell, A List Management
Voice of Barnadette - Amy Kersey, Sophie Jermyn Management
Holly Alexander - Chief Production Officer
Paul Meates - Executive Story Director
Charlotte Breene - Producer
King Yong - Head of Post Production
Kyle Brandse - Senior Editor/VFX Lead
Dave Sujono - Senior Motion Designer / 3D Animator
Steffie Yee - Senior Motion Designer/2D Animator
Josh Trotter - 2D Animator (freelance)
Fraser Kelton - Senior Editor/Colourist
Justin O’Donnell - Editor/Colourist
Shane Vancuylenberg - Head of Music and Sound
Robbie Balatincz - Composer/Sound Designer
Trent Michael - Head of Design
Greg Beer - Design Director
Cory Lo - Senior Designer
Harry Chambers - Designer
Henry Leng - Designer
Phil Reyestan - Junior Designer
Simon Merrifield - Studio Lead
Patrick Rivera - Finished Artist and Designer
Melanie Erler - Fashion Retoucher
James Turner - General Manager, Media
Jamie Nelson - National Investment Director
Alice Madden - Media Manager
Nicholas Glass - Senior Media Executive
Michael Rossiter - Group PR and Influencer Director
Grace Powers - PR and Influencer Account Manager
Isla Watson - Senior PR Account Executive
Lydia Askew - Senior Operations Manager